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There’s all sorts of fun things to do while at home recovering from the flu.

I was getting really good at the exciting game of “What Time Is It?” until I got bored of being right every 15 minutes.

Channel surfing is another good way to pass the hours away. But there’s only so much Sports Center and episodes of Mountain Men, North Woods Law, and Storage Wars that one man can take.

Here’s one observation taken from Sunday’s TV watching. While waiting for the green flag to fall (rather than the rain) on the Daytona 500, I noticed four – no, maybe it was five – commercials for pizza. Not just one pizza brand….but five different brands.

And, by the way, between two of the commercials there was a spot for Weight Watchers. Low and behold after another pizza ad was a Tums commercial. But nary a commercial for a beer….that was odd!

But, alas, all that waiting for the raindrops to stop falling on Daytona on Sunday afternoon was short lived. A mere 20 laps after the green flag fell (two hours after the scheduled starting time), Mother Nature had other ideas and washed out the rest of the day…and night.

As I write these words on Monday morning, Feb. 17, it’s roughly six hours until they drop the green flag again, weather permitting, on The Great American Race.

I’ll add one other tidbit about the race before moving to another subject. There was much ado about the President and the First Lady being in attendance. Trump wasn’t the first to do so, and he probably won’t be the last POTUS to take in such a noteworthy sporting event.

But back to the flu. I began feeling something out-of-whack late in the day of last Wednesday. On Thursday, I barely had the strength to blow my nose….and I found myself performing that feat a lot during the day.

I spent all day in bed on Thursday. I didn’t have any throbbing muscle aches or pains and I may have experienced a couple of instances of hot flashes and chills.

Took a trip to the doctor on Friday and….yep, sure enough, I had the flu. I was ordered to stay at home for five days and to drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration.

The only good news was that because I had taken the flu shot in the fall of last year, my battle with this typically nasty virus wouldn’t be very bad. So far, that diagnosis has proven correct.

I’m still kind’a weak today and my appetite is slow to return. I’m longing for the arrival of prolonged periods of time when I don’t have to cough or do not have to listen to my chest rattling with congestion.

What I’m looking forward to is a normal work schedule (those fun-filled, 12-hour days packed with all sorts of deadlines) and a decent meal. Heck, at point, I’d settle for a pizza (any name brand will do). I’ll even follow it with a few Tums….of course washing it all down with plenty of water (doctor’s orders)!!!

Cal Bryant is the Editor of Roanoke-Chowan Publications. Contact him at cal.bryant@r-cnews.com or 252-332-7207.